Five weeks into the NFL season, the Giants are in a place few expected: 3-1-1, alone at the top of the NFC East, and projected to land at No. 26 in next spring’s draft. That leaves New York in an unusual spot for October - not hunting a quarterback, but thinking about how to stock the roster for the long haul.
Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski sees one name as a possible fit for John Harbaugh and Joe Schoen: Oregon defensive tackle A’Mauri Washington. In Sobleski’s view, Washington could eventually serve as a belated answer to replacing Dexter Lawrence, with run defense being the big appeal.
“While [Washington] may not win frequently enough as a pass-rusher, he can impact the passing game with how good he is at batting passes at the line of scrimmage,” Sobleski wrote.
Washington’s production doesn’t jump off the page. A consensus four-star recruit and Arizona’s No. 1 prospect in the 2023 signing class, he has 16 tackles and no sacks entering Saturday’s matchup with Nebraska, numbers that fit an uneven Oregon team sitting at 3-2.
Still, the fourth-year tackle has a knack for getting his hands on footballs. Since the start of 2024, he has 13 pass breakups, including three this season.
That kind of disruption is what makes the comparison column interesting. Last year, Carolina’s Derrick Brown and Philadelphia’s Jalen Carter each led all NFL defensive linemen with seven deflected passes.
Washington is listed by Oregon at 6-foot-3 and 325 pounds, close to Brown’s 6-foot-5, 320 and Carter’s 6-foot-3, 314. Size alone doesn’t make the leap for him, but it explains why evaluators see a familiar type.
The concern is obvious, though: the numbers in the backfield. Brown and Carter had the tackles for loss and sacks to go with the disruptions, and Lawrence produced those kinds of stats at Clemson as well. Washington has the frame and some of the same line-of-scrimmage traits, but not the same résumé.
Sobleski also mentioned Iowa interior offensive lineman Kade Pieper and Mississippi cornerback Kelley Jones as possible Giants options. Pieper is the more intriguing of that pair, especially with experience at right guard and center. New York recently named Bryan Hudson its starting center after John Michael Schmitz held the job for more than three seasons.
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